Howard Lederer lived in a family of 5 where he enjoyed gambling on numerous card games when he was young. He found himself getting very aggressive in these particular card games as he was playing his father. After graduating from secondary school, Howard decided to place higher education on hold for a little while and headed to New York City to play some serious chess. While playing chess, he was brought in to a poker game going on in the rear of the room. Howard’s 1st 2 years were tough as he would play many hours and don’t win most times. He made some extra money by becoming an runner for the poker players. He theorized he might improve his game by analyzing his life outside of poker. He brought about an attempt to get more sleep and focus even more on poker.
The real improvement in his skills began when he started betting at the Mayfair Club in New York City. The Mayfair was a bridge and backgammon association where the the most favorable players would regularly compete against each other. Howard was able to access some of the foremost minds in chess. With their help, Howard Lederer would tweak his strategic thinking skills. He applied these strategic ideas to the game of No-Limit holdem.
He also assisted his sister Annie Duke learn poker. She was a superb student of the game as she constantly asked questions about how to make the correct choice. He told Annie Duke to head out to Sin City and compete in the World Series of Poker competition. Annie is one of the strongest women players the poker arena today. Howard headed to Sin City in 1993 and participated in money games for the following 10 years. When the World Poker Tournament grew in popularity, Howard decided to compete in more tournaments.